Recipe by Katie Jeserun, Introduction by Richard Stewart

As we come out of winter, our meals tend to be a mix of what is left over from winter and what is starting to produce in late-winter/early spring. This soup features: ground pork which was traditionally butchered and processed in late autumn with the ham reaching a salted cure by the solstice, beans which were harvested and store in mid-September, and kale, a crop which wintered over with a covering of straw (or, more wealthy farms, in glass hot boxes). In these modern times, we rarely see a seasonality to our meals. All three of these items can be found year round. This recipe opts for the tried and true Navy bean. You can use use just about any dry bean or unflavored canned bean. There are a variety of white beans. In the United States these tend to be Navy beans (named because if their common use in the late 1800s U.S. Navy) Great Northern beans, and Cannellini beans (Italian White Kidney beans). White beans as a whole tend to run high in phosphatidylserine, the highest for plant-based foods, protein, and high levels of saponin which help reduce cholesterol. Combined with the kale (known as a rich source of vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin B6, folate, manganese, thiamin, riboflavin, pantothenic acid, vitamin E and several dietary minerals, including iron, calcium, potassium, and phosphorus) and the dense proteins in the pork, you end up with an amazing rich, tasty dish that is also extremely healthy.

Ingredients

1 can Navy Beans, rinsed and drained (you can substitute with other unflavored canned beans)
Or 6 oz dried Navy Beans, cooked and drained (you can substitute with other dried beans)
1 lb Woodland Pork Sausage (Mild, Italian, or Chorizo) (or other flavored, pastured pork)
1 Onion, diced
3 Cloves garlic, crushed
3 Tbsp MadHouse Apple Cider Vinegar
¼ lb Kale, de-ribbed and rough chopped 
1 ½  quart Stock (Chicken, Vegetable, etc)
Salt
Black Pepper
Parmesan Cheese, shaved
*Crushed Red Pepper Flakes

(Items available online are linked and items available seasonably at our farm store are italicized)

DIRECTIONS

Cook the sausage in a saucepan over medium high heat. Drain the fat a few times throughout the cooking process to encourage browning. Remove cooked sausage and set aside, leaving about 2 tablespoons of fat still in the pot and any delicious brown bits left over from the sausage. 

In that same pan, sweat the onions until translucent. Add in the crushed garlic cloves and continue to cook until the onion just begins to take on some color and the garlic is aromatic. 

Splash in some apple cider vinegar, about 3 Tbsp or so, to deglaze the pan and release all the flavors stuck to the bottom of the pan.

Add the stock, cooked sausage, and beans and simmer for just about 10 minutes to allow the flavors to combine. Add salt to taste.

If you’d like to thicken the soup, take about a 3/4 cup of beans and mash them with the side of a spoon and add that to the stock while simmering. This approach is a bit rustic, but lovely! For a more refined version, puree a portion of the beans in a blender with some of the chicken stock until creamy and smooth and pour back into the rest of the pot.  

Taste again, considering the amount of salt and acid. This is a very rich soup so a squeeze of lemon or a splash of apple cider vinegar can help balance all the rich flavors.

Stir in the kale just before serving. Garnish with shaved parmesan, grated black pepper, and crushed red pepper flakes.